Weird Sports – Blo Ball

Posted on: April 8, 2013

When I started researching this weeks weird sports Blo Ball article, I wondered if it was April Fool’s day again.

This is the first time that my stalwart friend, Wikipedia has drawn a complete blank (so if anyone wants the honour of creating the entry it’s all yours) and I have only found a handful of items on the net to aid me in this. There doesn’t even seem to be a world federation for the sport.

So what is Blo-Ball?

Put simply it is table tennis (or Ping pong) without the paddles.

Invented in 1993 by Kenny Wiland it was patented in America in 1995, but the sport hasn’t really taken off internationally yet with one possible exception which I will get to later.

The game is played by two to four players across a table which is six feet long and three feet wide, with rails along the sides to keep the ball from flying off in the wrong direction. Points are scored by shooting the ball past their opponent using only the power of their lungs.

The scoring is similar to volley ball in that you can only score a point on your own service. The first player to reach 11 points with a two point lead wins.

The table legs are adjustable which in my opinion gives the taller player a distinct advantage in acceleration. I can only assume that the six foot tall players will prove victorious.

Now for the exception that I mentioned before. As soon as I mentioned this sport to my wife she immediately said “Oh like Pig Pong then” and as usual she was right.

Pig Pong: A game where competitors (presumably children) use a small plastic pig as a bellows to blow a ball back and forth. Oh such fun.

Again the first team to score eleven points wins, although it doesn’t say that you need a two point lead, I think it is pretty safe to assume that anyone playing the game seriously will demand that rule be used.

There we have it. Blo- Ball and Pig Pong, two games very similar to each other, both unusual.

Kitty Bingo

mFortune

Bucky Bingo

Betfred Bingo

Welcome bonuses and promotions mentioned throughout Place a Bet Online are subject to change. Terms and conditions as well as wagering requirements apply. Full T&C’s can be found on the sites advertised.